Process of making cages for roller bearings



Oct

M. T. LOTHROP PROCESS OF MAKING GAGES FOR ROLLER BEARINGS Filed Nov. 12.1926 6 Invanfor:

Patented oer; 18, 1927.

UNITED s'raras 1,545,866 PATENT OFFICE.

MARCUS T. LOTHROP, OF CANTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR "'lO T HE TIMKEN ROLLERBEARING COMPANY, OF CANTON, OHIO, .A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

, PROCESS OF MAKING OAQES FOR ROLLER BEARINGS.

Application filed November 12, 192$, Serial No. 147,939;

My invention relates to a process of making cages for roller bearings.

A roller bearing cage is usually made of a single piece of thin metal ofcylindrical or conical form with pockets therein for the rollers.Heretofore it has been the practice to make such pockets by punching ahole of slightly greater length than the roller and striking'up thesides thereof into the form of wings of suitable width and ourvature toconform to the surface of the roller. Heretofore it has been thepractice to punch the pocket hole in the form of the capital letter I,that is, thepunch hole is widened laterally at its ends to provideforthe subsequent operation of pressing up the wings. The result of suchpractice is to make the wings shorter than the pocket hole and shorterthan the roller therein; andin the 2 case of cages made of heavy metal,such shortening of the wings amounts to about one-quarter" of the entirelength of the pocket. The purpose of the present invention is'to devisea process which will make the wings of the cage the full length of thepockets or of the rollers therein. Accordingly the invention consists inthe process hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein like reference numerals refer tolike parts wherever they occur, I

Fig. 1 is a side view of a conical blank suitable for making a cage forconical roller bearings, a portion of the right side being shown insection.

Fig. 2 is a view of aportion of said blank 1 quadrangular pocket holepunched with a. therein,

Fig. 3 is a view of said portion of the blank with boththe quadrangularpocket hole and smaller holes at the respective corners thereof,

Fig. 4 is a View of said portion with the metal betweenthe pockets andthe respective corners of the quadrangular hole severed and the wingsstruck up, Fig. 5 is a sectional view on of Fig. 4,

- Fig. 6 is a cross-section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4,

gig. 7 1s a side view of the finished cage; an

Fig. 8 is a'detail view of a portion of a blank punched in accordancewith the usual 55 practice heretofore prevailing.

the line 5 5 of the end walls of sai The cage illustrated in theaccompanying drawing is designed for use with conical or taper rollers.It comprises a conical shell A, preferablymade in a single piece with acontinuous series of pockets B for the rollers. Such shells have beenmade out of sheet metal and also olit of tubing.

Heretofore, it has been the practice .to punch each pocket with a punch(or punches) of the form of the capital letter I, which produces a punchhole 1 of thesame form, as. shown in Fig. 8. According to the presentprocess, the ends of the main punch are straight and parallel, ashereto-v fore, but the sides extend in straight lines from one of suchends to the other so that the hole 1 punched in the blank C by my punchis of quadrangular form. The sides of such hole 1 are parallel forcylindrical rollers or convergelsomewhat for taper 16 rollers.

Small holes 2, preferably circular, are then punched or drilled throughthe wall of the cage a slight distance away from the corners of thequadrangular hole 1 made by the main punch, and with the centers of saidsmall holesv substantially in line with the ends of the main hole. Thisplaces the small holes 2 in proper position with reference to the lineson which the wings C are to'be struck up, and it also places such smallholes with only a small amount of metal intervening hetweenthem and themain punch hole, such intervening metal bein thinnest in the line mainhole.

When the cage blank has been provided with the main punch holes 1 andthe corner holes 2 therefor, it is submitted to the oper-- ation ofstriking up the win 0, which operation is performed in an or inary presswith formingdies that extend the full length of the wings G. Thisoperation shears the thin wallsof metal that so arate the small cornerholes 2 from the main punch hole 1, such shearing being in line with theends of the main punch ole and thereby making the wings C the fulllength of such hole.

, The wings of the ca 0 extend the full length of the pockets an beingconformed to the rollers, are eifective throughout the entire length ofthe rollers for the purpose of guiding, spacing .and ositioning thesame. The extra length of t e wings of my cage in comparison withprevious ca es is of great advantage in various ways. or in- 1 stance, Iheendmost portions of the, rollers,

are mos sensitive to the guiding action of the wings, and my wings areenabledfto, cooperate with the rollers closer to their ends than hasheretofore been practicable. Again, by reason of their greater length,my wings distribute the wear of both the wings and the rollers to betteradvantage than previous constructions; and also by reason of the extralength of my wings, they are stronger and more rigid than shorter wings.

Anot er great advantage is that a quadrangular punch is very strong anddurable and easy to make whereas the I-shaped punches heretofore usedare more expensive and shortlived and liable to break. This lastmentioned advantage is of the greatest importance with cages of thickmetal, such I for instance,as number sixteen gage.

."While the preceding description assumes that the process begins with atubular or cages, which consists in providing the bla with holes forthepockets and with smaller holes near the corners of said pocket holes andstriking up wings alon lines that extend alongside said pocket ho esandthrough said small holes. a 7 V 2'. The process of making roller bearingcages, which consists in providin the blank with holes for the pocketand wlth smaller holes near the corners of said pocket holes andstriking upwings alon lines that extend alongside said pocket ho esandthrough Sflid small holes thereby shearing the metal interveningbet-ween the pocket holes and the small holes.

- 3. The process of making roller bearing cages, which consists inproviding the blank with quadrangular holes for the. pockets and withsmaller holes adjacent thereto and in alinement with the ends ofsaidpocket holes, and striking up wings alongside of said pocket holesand simultaneously shearing the said small holes. v g

4. The process of making roller bearing cages, which consists inpunching quadrangular holes inthe blank, then punching small holes inalinement with the ends of said quadrangular blanks and at a slightdistance from the corners thereof, and: then striking up wings alongsideof the quadrangular holes along lines that pass throu h the smallerholes and thereby shearing ti intervening metal.

Signed at Canton, Ohio, this'8th day of November, 1926.

MARCUS T. LOTHROP.

' metal between the corners of the pockets and a

